Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1887-11-17
chicago's Condemned.
The Anarchists are hung, that is


four of them,-Spies, Parsons,
Fischer and Engel,-and Fielden
and Schwab are committed to life
imprisonment. Quietness and good
order reigns. AS an exchange says:
ain whatever light, or form what
ever standp lint viewed, the record
of the anarchists trials is a melan-
choIy one. That in the mental
organization of men it was possible,
unless insane, for any considerable
number to conclude, by any process
they esteemed reasoning, that So
clety was an oppressor, government
crime, property honestly acquired
robbery, labor protected as labor
wronged, and the protectors enemies
TO be exterminated, and that they,
numbering perhaps one out of $4,000
as an average, were to be the Judge
and final arbiters of the destiny of
millions, seems so absolutely aston
ishing that some weak men would
palliate their crimes on the theory
OF absolute madness, and that they
thus we're irresponsible for their
acts. They even urge this view as
proof of hereditary tendency, and
the fnality simply elimination Of
antecedent depravity inherited from
ancestry. But the anarchist himself
makes no such plea. He insists
that he was sane, in his right mind,
and demonstrates in all ways that if
mad there was method In his mad
ness. 1t was long and carefully
planned, each part studied, and the
beginning and ending were all parts
of whole. The inspiration To
murder and the murder itself, are
only links in the chain of causatlon.
1t is not needful to recapitulate
details. The public have long had
them in full. These men were slrn-
ply organized assassins, to make war
on human nature as developed in its
social organization. They arrayed
themselves as wolves To prey on the
human flock. They denounced all
law, detied all law, and aimed to de.
stroy all law, only in the eud TO APP
peal for protection to the very law
they had trampled on; to experience
it's merciful provision, and To receive
the benefit of every doubt that
acuteness and technicality could
urge in their favor. They were not
tried hastily or in passion. They
were not convicted until evidence
precluded doubt. They were not
hurried to execution until all grades
of judicial tribunals had tested
every point in their favor The calm
majesty of law in contrast with
their violence, is the most marked
feature In all this extraordinary trial
In view of the otfense, its humanity
would almost seem to SAVIOR of
weakness, were il not that human
rights were to be weighed in the
balance.
A closer inspection of the record
shows that these men were not, as
was generally supposed, tried for
conspiracy, but for murder, as ac-
cessories before the act The Hi
nois statutes have somewhat changed
the old common law III that respect.
They were thus in effect indicted as
principals, and convicted as prlncl-
pals, and were punished as princi-
pals in a deliberately planned muir
der. Nor could any other legal
conclusion be reached. The statute
is plain, just and right. There is
40 difference in criminality between
those who aid, abet or assist, and he
no executes. All stand properly
in the same class as To punishment,
for all are alike guilty.
There seems but little ground for
sympathy with these anarchists.
Their punishment will not restore
the dead fallen by their hands, but
will be a solemn warning to the
| living. The wolf is not spared be-
cause his instincts lead him to
slaughter. They set up no plea of
wrong to themselves, no oppression
goadiug them on, no impulse Of
insanity. On the contrary they in
sist they were in their right mind,
that their acts were Unsuitable, that
the purpose was war on society at
large, and not to redress personal
grle, ances. They exhibit no signs
of contrition or regret, no sorrow
for the innocent blood they have
shed, aud do ilttle else than threaten
that, when justice ls satisfied in
their execution, more blood Is to
flow from their teachings. What
margin then is left TO invoke
mercy? They have destroyed ali
grounds on which it could be sought.
Nothing is left to stand upon.
This case may be SAID to be the
first of its kind in America. In any
other country no such long waiting
would have been tolerated. Respect